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On teaching
Mar. 4th, 2010 11:56 amLast night was a pretty important evening at work.
I taught a class. It's not so much that I taught it, as it was that I was teaching it because I pitched it. It was an intermediate/advanced class, on how to break down a chicken; with a little bit of how to deal with fish.
It was a small class, which was good. I was able to do it as an around the table presentation, not a watch me from way over there one. It also meant everyone was in the front row, which is better for learning, and much easier for teaching, because has pretty good visual feedback with everyone.
Oddly enough, I wasn't all that nervous. It may be that I worked it out by touching up the kives in the kitchen (a mixed bag, so far as results go. One of them was still dull, and one was a little too small for some of the work asked of it. If you don't have some skill, the Global 7" Santoku is probably a little light for taking down chickens. Maybe if it were really sharp..., but I think the real problem is the chord being to small, but I digress). It may be that taking a couple of chickens apart in the week before class got me past the level of vaguely nervous which comes with a new class (I was really nervous before the first basic skills course).
In any case, I was as calm as could be when people started to arrive.
Did a quick refresher on knives, how to hold, what to look for, etc., followed with a bit of board work with some celery and a carrot.
Then I handed out the sardines. Taught them how to clean them (one student didn't want to mess with it). A quick trip to the stove and fry them up, pass them around and finish with a lesson on the care and feeding of cast iron, and back to the table.
Where we did the classic break down of a chicken. Wings (I take them off at the shoulder, if you want to take them apart to "drummettes" and "buffalo wings" it's easier when they are off the bird), thighs; an then the drumstick off the thigh), back, and then breast.
The breast was the fun part. It's where a level of comfort with the knife (and a slightly heavier knife) come into play. You have to believe you can split the breastbone. It's where the santoku failed. So I lent Faye my knife, and, "crunch" the breast was split.
Take the breast off the keel, and the tender off the breast and you are done.
Taught them how to bone the thigh, showed how to carve a roast bird (both classic and "modern") and discussed how to filet/skin a larger fish. Total class time, a bit more than an hour and half. Everyone seemed happy.
With practice, it takes maybe ten minutes. The back goes for stock (and if you want skinless beasts/thighs, you can add them to the pot). I like to roast, or pan-fry the meat, so I get that richness which come of mking stock from a cooked bird.
I think it went well, and I hope to do more of them.
For those who want to take the basic course, the next one I'm teaching is Mar. 20. I suppose I could be inveigled to teach some privately too.
I taught a class. It's not so much that I taught it, as it was that I was teaching it because I pitched it. It was an intermediate/advanced class, on how to break down a chicken; with a little bit of how to deal with fish.
It was a small class, which was good. I was able to do it as an around the table presentation, not a watch me from way over there one. It also meant everyone was in the front row, which is better for learning, and much easier for teaching, because has pretty good visual feedback with everyone.
Oddly enough, I wasn't all that nervous. It may be that I worked it out by touching up the kives in the kitchen (a mixed bag, so far as results go. One of them was still dull, and one was a little too small for some of the work asked of it. If you don't have some skill, the Global 7" Santoku is probably a little light for taking down chickens. Maybe if it were really sharp..., but I think the real problem is the chord being to small, but I digress). It may be that taking a couple of chickens apart in the week before class got me past the level of vaguely nervous which comes with a new class (I was really nervous before the first basic skills course).
In any case, I was as calm as could be when people started to arrive.
Did a quick refresher on knives, how to hold, what to look for, etc., followed with a bit of board work with some celery and a carrot.
Then I handed out the sardines. Taught them how to clean them (one student didn't want to mess with it). A quick trip to the stove and fry them up, pass them around and finish with a lesson on the care and feeding of cast iron, and back to the table.
Where we did the classic break down of a chicken. Wings (I take them off at the shoulder, if you want to take them apart to "drummettes" and "buffalo wings" it's easier when they are off the bird), thighs; an then the drumstick off the thigh), back, and then breast.
The breast was the fun part. It's where a level of comfort with the knife (and a slightly heavier knife) come into play. You have to believe you can split the breastbone. It's where the santoku failed. So I lent Faye my knife, and, "crunch" the breast was split.
Take the breast off the keel, and the tender off the breast and you are done.
Taught them how to bone the thigh, showed how to carve a roast bird (both classic and "modern") and discussed how to filet/skin a larger fish. Total class time, a bit more than an hour and half. Everyone seemed happy.
With practice, it takes maybe ten minutes. The back goes for stock (and if you want skinless beasts/thighs, you can add them to the pot). I like to roast, or pan-fry the meat, so I get that richness which come of mking stock from a cooked bird.
I think it went well, and I hope to do more of them.
For those who want to take the basic course, the next one I'm teaching is Mar. 20. I suppose I could be inveigled to teach some privately too.
